Improvement in juivlp-seats for carriages



C. K. MELLINGER. Jump-Seat for Carriages.

Patented April 20,1875

THE GRAPHIC C0 .PHOTDrLlTH-39&41 PARK PLAGENY.

CHRISTIAN K. MELLINGER, OF HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO JACOB REINOEHL AND LEHMAN & REIGEL,

OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN JUhiF-SEATS FOR CARRIAGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 362,297., dated April 20, 1875; application filed January 6 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GHRIs'rIAN K. MEL- LIN GER, of the city of Harrisburg, county of Dauphin and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements on J ump- Seats for Carriages and lVagous, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 represents a vertical sectional view of a two-seated carriage, the two jump-seats being in position for occupancy, and the position of the front seat being indicated in position to favor ingress or egress. 2 represents a like view, showing the seats in position as a one-seated carriage. Figs. 4 and 5 represent transverse views of the carriagebody, showing the panels between the seatirons, and complements of panels, whereby the carriage is made a closed paneled vehicle. Fig. 3 represents the front seat foreshortened. Figs. 6 and 8 represent the rear legs or supports of both seats, and Figs. 7 and 9 represent the same in cross-section, taken, respectively, at the dotted lines m a, showing the conformation of the irons and the position of the panels on them. Fig. 10 represents the sprin gstop of the front seat.

The nature and object of my improvement are to provide firmly-braced seat irons or supports with little complication of parts or diiiicult framing of the wood-work; to secure a close-paneled carriage, or open at pleasure; to provide for ingress to or egress from the carriage and to constitute a one or two seated vehicle at pleasure.

In the following general description similar letters refer to like parts.

M M represent the rear seat, and N N N represent the front seat, located, as shown, in the carriage-body R R B A L represent the front legs or supports of the seats, which are straight oval bars, pivoted at their ends to the vertically-slotted sockets on the upper and the base sill-irons. D If, Figs. 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7, represent the rear legs or supports of the rear seat, which having a main body similar to that of each of the front legs, have also attaching-flanges f, for the insertion through them of wood-screws to hold the panel D and the complements thereof D thereto, and have each a lug, l, as shown, on the exterior side, which, when the seat is shifted forward for use as a one-seated carriage, rests in a socket in brace J, which may have an escutcheonplate thereon about the socket. The use of said lug l is to keep the seat to its place, or to resist lateral displacement. The panel D D is attached to the legs in such manner as to finish exteriorly flush with the parts l) of the legs, and the major part D, therefore, is dis posed between the legs, as shown in Fig. 5, to stiffen them laterally. B B 0, Figs. 1, 2, 4, S, and 9, represent the rear legs or supports of thefrontseat, which, having a straight main body, B have also attaching-flanges O on their inner edges, whereby the panel 0 is attached by woods-crews in position between the legs, as shown, and have also a box-form projection, B, on each about midway on the rear side thereof, for the insertion and support of the latching-bolts,-as shown in Figs. 4 and 10. Said latching-bolts are each made with a bit, g an angular part or stem, g, and a round stem, g The bearings for said bolt are in the perforated ends of the box B, which are angular below and round above, correspond ing with the parts g and g of the bolt. A coiled spring is inserted in said box around the part g of the bolt, which, acting against the square part '9 and the upper end of the box, shoots the bolt to place. The office of said plunger-bolt is to stop the seat in its midway position for occupancy, which it effects by barricading the vertical longitudinal thorough-slot in the runner or how extension of the front base-sill H at the notches H made transversely on its summit, as shown in Fig. 1. The said bolts are kept from shooting entirely out of said boxes, when the seat is in the extreme positions, by tags or open rings inserted through the upper ends of the parts g Said rings also serve as attachments for the ends of a cord or wire, which is passed through eyes or staples immediately beneath the seat, as shown in Fig. 1, whereby the two bolts on the opposite seat-legs are connected, that they may be conjointly manipulated by pulling the cord or wire when it is desired to shiftthe seat. The office of panel C is to partition the carriage transversely, and it is made to fold from the seat leg'pivots as hinge-pintles, in order that it may be wholly out of the way to pass in or out the carriage, the lower pivots of said legs being situated as low as possible, to allow the panel to lie as nearly as possible on the floor of the carriage.

H S represent the base sills of the front seat, each of which is made as a right or left fixt-ure, having a front socket for the insertion of the lower end of the leg A, fixedly or removably pivoted therein, and the body of the sill S is made to attach it by wood-screws to the inside of the joist V. The rear ends H of said sills are turned up runner form, or as bows, as shown, and are vertically longitudinally thorough-slotted, except a ledge at the lower ends, by which the segments of the bows are united. Tb ey are so slotted to makeguideways to admit the rear legs proper, and they are notched at their summits at H, in which the legs are stopped, as described. The approach to said notches H is graded bythe form of the bow, so that the latching-bolts g g 9 may fall to place in the notch es automatically in shifting the seat from its idle positions to that of occupancy. K e d represent the base-sills of the rear seat, each of which is made a right or left fixture, and is set on the joist V in such manner that the projections d formed on its lower margin may set against the inside of said joist, to which it is attached by woodscrews, as shown. The rear socket is made in the usual form, and the body 6 of the sill is a plain strip. The front ends K of said sillirons are made bow-form, or like an inverted horseshoe, and are vertically slotted at their middle from h to h, to admit, guide, and stop the legs or supports L, and also laterally brace the seat. N N N represent the front-seat board and its sections, hinged together at a. It is so made that it may constitute a seat of full width when its ends are extended, and

that when its ends are folded it may pass within the carriageframe, and the divisioncuts at the hinges a are beveled or slant, that the hinge may be benefited by the brace of the dissevered parts.

In all the positions indicated for the front and rear seats it may be observed that the panels G and D D have a common center of motion with the legs of the seat-irons. Also, that the rear panel D D is parallel with the end S of the body, or when deflected, as shown in Fig. 2, it forms a closing partition in the carriage-body. It may also be observed that these seat-irons are applicable to open or nonpaneled wagons, in which case the attachingflanges for the panels may be omitted in the make of the rear supports of the seats.

The advantages of my improvement in brief are, a compact, firm, simple, cheap carriage, which is unmistakable in its operations, commodious, and capable of elegance and style.

Having thus fully and clearly described my invention, what I regard as new and useful, and what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A panel, in combination with the jumpseat supports, having a common motion with, and being retained in position by, said supports, as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The sill-irons H S, in combination with the supports A E the bolts g g 9 and seatirons I all constructed to operate as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The sill-irons K 0 (I, in combination with the supports 1) l f, and the seat-irons F F all constructed to operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention'I have hereunto set my hand this 4th day of January, 1875.

CHRISTIAN K. MELLINGER.

"Witnesses:

THEOPHILUS WEAVER, JACOB RINoEHL. 

